Tag: Moses

TRUST IN THE LORD

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves who we are putting our trust in.  There is a popular Christian Worship song out with the title I Trust in God.  There is a line in the song that says “I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered”

Sometime the answer we are seeking from the Lord takes a long time to come.  Sometimes it can seem like the answer will never come.  Sometimes the answer will come instantly.  Whatever the case, we can be assured that when we call on the Lord, He will hear and He will answer. He will answer!

Psalm 37:5 says Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 

So, according to Psalm 37:5 not only do we call on Him in times of trouble.  We must also commit our ways to Him and we must trust Him.  I guess the question we need to be asking ourselves is this, “Do I trust the Lord”?

Do I trust Him to pull me out of the situation I find myself in?  Do I trust Him to do what seems to be impossible?  Do I really believe He will work all things out for good?  I mean, do I REALLY believe and do I REALLY trust?  I think each of us can ask ourselves the same questions.  Only we know the answers.

Think back to a time when you sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.  Think back to a time when it seemed like all hope was lost and then when you least expected it, the Lord showed up with an answer you never would have thought about.

Think about a diagnosis you received that seemed like your quality of life was over.  Think about a financial situation where you were sure you were going to be ruined.  Think about a family member who needed salvation that you thought would never get saved.

I am sure as you do you will find the same thing I find when I look back.  The Lord is good!  He hears and he answers.  The Lord is good and His provision is never ending.

I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered!  That is why I trust Him!  As I wait on the Lord for my answers, I am praying that you know this trustworthy God.  He hears and He answers.  Seek the Lord, He will hear you!

I was at church this weekend and heard something that made me stop and think.  The Pastor was talking about the Israelites and how Moses led them out of slavery to the promised land.

I have read this story many, many times.  I have even preached this message many times.  I am sure we all know the story quite well.  Moses was directed by God to lead the Israelites out of slavery.  They were to go to the land that God gave them. A land flowing with milk and honey.  Sounds quite wonderful, doesn’t it?

We all know that trip took Moses and the Israelites 40 years to complete.  I have also preached various messages on the amount of time it took them to make the trip.  And really there are many points that can be learned from this event.

What never caught my attention before was this.  That journey was only an eleven-day journey!  What? Wait! Eleven days!?  Yep, you heard me right!  Eleven days.  Instead, they wandered around in the wilderness for forty years!  What a waste of time.

Why were they wandering around in the wilderness?  Because they were not right with God.  God was working something out in them.  For one thing they were murmuring, complaining, and accusing God.  How many times did they say “Did God lead us out here to kill us?  We would have been better to stay where we were.”  Seriously, better to stay in bondage than to follow and submit to God? 

Got me thinking?  How many of us have put ourselves in similar situations?  How easy it would be for us if we would just choose to believe God.  It really is a choice.  Just trust and believe.  Jeremiah 29:11 tells us God has thoughts towards us.  He has thought of giving us peace.  Thoughts to give us a good future.  Thoughts to give us hope. How long are we going to stay in bondage instead of trusting and believing in God.  Let’s choose to stop complaining about our situations.  Let’s choose to stop speaking negatively about our circumstances.  Let’s choose to thank God for all things,

EXODUS 11:3

And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses [was] very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.

I am sure we all know the story of when the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.  Let’s go back for a moment and remember Moses was tending his flock when he saw the Lord in a flame of fire that was not consuming the bush (Exodus 3:1-2)  The Lord told Moses he was going to deliver His people out of the hand of the Egyptians.  Moses has many excuses why he could not be the one to be used by God.  Many of which may have been valid reasons in the eyes of Moses, but not in the eyes of the Lord.  I believe the thing that was going through Moses’ mind was the fact that he had killed an Egyptian the last time he was in Egypt (Exodus 2:11-15).  The last time Moses was in Egypt we had run for his life.  He had killed a man, hid him in the sand.  He tried to help the Israelites in his own power.

So now Moses is asked to go back to the place where things went so wrong in his life and deliver God’s people out of oppression.  Which brings us to what God showed me this morning.

And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.  The people left bondage with all the gold and silver of the Egyptians.  It was given to them by the Egyptians.  This part of the verse has been preached every way possible.   So I will not spend time on it here.

Moreover the man Moses [was] very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.  “The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaohs’ servants, and in the sight of the people” I emphasize this because it is very significant.  When Moses first left Egypt, he had done a very bad thing.  He had killed a man.  Not just any man, he had killed an Egyptian.  That would be like killing someone in our government today.  This was a man who had some power; he was a man who was in charge of making sure the Hebrew people did what they were told to do.  Moses killed a man in authority.  He hoped he had gotten away with it, but the next day a Hebrew confronted him about it.  The Hebrew did not understand Moses intent to help, he just saw that Moses had killed a man, and figured if Moses could kill one man he could kill another.  The Hebrew man feared for his life.  This part of the story has been mention, but what I have not heard too much about is how “the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people”

I am amazed at how God takes those people who have been rejected by the world and makes them great.  Great not only in the sight of the world but also in the sight of His people.  When we purpose in our heart that we will follow the Word of God, God notices.  When we decide we will be the one to stand for the Lord in spite of opposition, God notices.  When Moses first fled from Egypt he was nothing, just a lowly criminal.  Think about that for a moment.  He had killed a man in authority.  Think about how you would feel about the person who killed someone in government, there would be a man hunt for that individual.  Think about how you would feel about the person who killed someone in your town.  There would be a man hunt for that individual.  How would you feel about the person who killed someone in your family?  There would be a man hunt for that person.  I can imagine that ALL the people in the land of Egypt did not think to highly of Moses.  He was brought into Pharaoh’s house and treated like family.  He was raised an Egyptian yet he killed an Egyptian.  He was born a Hebrew, yet the Hebrew man feared him.  So in the land of Egypt Moses was a wanted criminal when he fled the first time.  He went into hiding fearing he would be caught.

Then what happened?  Moses submitted to God.  Imagine for a moment that you are Moses, you killed a man.  Now you have lived in the desert for 40 years.  For 40 years you have thought about the incident, you built a family and tried to go about your life.  Yet in the back of your mind you remember you have been branded a killer in your home town.  The people you sought to protect fear you and your family is looking to have you killed.  Every day you think about it.  Then you meet God and He says, “Go deliver My people out of the Hand of the Egyptians” How hard do you think it was for Moses to walk into Egypt.  It would be like a killer today coming in and saying, “listen I have word from God.” We would think “this guy is crazy, but him in a mental ward”  Yet in spite of all the fear Moses must have felt, he went back to where everything first went bad in his life.  He trusted in the Lord enough to believe he would be protected.  Do you think he might have been thinking “what if they arrest me, what if Pharaoh has me killed?  Yet I trust in God” What about the Hebrew people, they thought Moses was crazy!

Also the more Moses spoke to Pharaoh about letting the Hebrew people go, the worse it became for the Hebrew people.  It is like enough already!  We had it bad enough before you showed up to make it “better” now look, things are worse”  They tried to get Moses to stop.  I think we tend to be like the Hebrew people sometimes.  We cry out to God to do something in our lives, to deliver us out of certain situations, then when He sends someone to speak those words that will deliver us out of bondage, we want to kill the messenger.  We want what we want the way we want it.  That is what Moses faced with the Hebrew people.  He told them the Lord has heard your cry and sent me to deliver you out of bondage, I will speak to Pharaoh and he will let you go. (Paraphrased by Donna)  When that did not happen as smoothly as hoped, the Hebrew people told Moses to stop.  They told him he was making matter worse and they did not want him to help (paraphrased by Donna).  But Moses would not back down.  He had an encounter with the Lord, he knows the Lord had sent him and he was steadfast in what he needed to do.  So here we have Moses, hated by the Hebrews, hated by the Egyptians.  Here is a man with very few friends.  Here is a man who is an outcast because he will not do what the world wants him to do.  He will not conform; he trusts in God, he put all his trust in God.  He is obedient to God in spite of all the opposition he faced, and the Bible says “Moreover the man Moses [was] very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.”

In the end Moses was very great in the land of Egypt.  That is the same place where he had killed a man.  The same land where he was a wanted criminal before following the voice of the LORD.  Moses was very great in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants.  The same authority that could have him killed.  The same court system that could have sentenced him to death.  The same justice system that could have him put to death for killing one of their own.  The same people who hated him for killing someone in their family.  Moses was very great in the sight of the people.  All the people even the Hebrew people who told him to stop helping.  Even the Hebrew people who had to go through so much hardship because of Moses.  The same people who probably figured Moses was some kind of crackpot, who should be muzzled.  This is the same person who had made their life so miserable.

Moses had an encounter with the LORD.  Moses had trust in the LORD.  Moses spoke the word of the LORD.  Moses went through some trials and came out victorious.  Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.

How many of us are willing to go through some opposition to follow the LORD?  We live in a time when following Jesus and listening to His voice is not the thing to do.  We live in a time when we are laughed at for believing in Jesus.  Even here in America the name of Jesus is coming under attach.  We live in a time when we are asked to stop talking about JESUS the MESSIAH, to stop listening to the LORD,   to stop believing in the HOLY GHOST.  We live in a time when they would like us to be tolerant of other religions, to stop pointing out the sin.  We are asked to stop making people feel uncomfortable, to stop making people feel offended.  Yet will we bow to Pharaoh or will we bow to the LORD.  I believe if we will be the voice of GOD.  Follow His statutes; keep sin out of our life, talk about the FATHER, SON, & HOLY GHOST God will make us great in the land.  Eventually we will come out of bondage and we will come out with the wealth of the world.  We will be called great. God will make things turn around in our lives; He is a rewarder of those who seek HIM.

I urge us all to take a look at the life of Moses.  He was just a man who allowed God to use him.  He was a man who faced his fears head on.  He was a man hated by the world.  Yet he was a man who followed the LORD.  He is a man we are still talking about today!  I want to be the voice of the LORD!  I choose to be the one who will not bow to Pharaoh.  I choose to be the one who will not go with the flow.  No matter the cost I will follow Christ!  What about you?